Curved TVs: new viewing experience or pointless gimmick?

After recently returning home from CES 2014 in Las Vegas, one thing I can’t seem to shift (apart from the jet lag) is the feeling that the days of flatscreen TVs may be numbered. Are curved TVs the future?

Curved TVs were everywhere at the world’s biggest technology show, but are they just a flash in the pan or a genuine new way for us to enjoy watching television?

Curved TVs actually came out last year in the form of OLED models with eye-watering price tags. We saw various new models – both LED and OLED sets – at the Consumer Electronics Show, all featuring shallow concave curved screens.

These were mostly elaborate and high-tech TVs that may never see shop shelves, including 105-inch monster TVs from Samsung and LG. However, Samsung also threw in an, ahem, curveball by announcing that it’s 8-series high-definition TVs – usually among the most high profile sets to be released each year – are also to be curved in 2014.

So, it seems that curved TVs are here to stay… but is that a good thing?

Curved TVs: what are the benefits?

Well, we’re not 100% sure about the actual benefits, but the big brands – such as Samsung, LG and Panasonic – insist that it’s about getting a ‘more immersive viewing experience’.

The idea is that you sit watching the TV on your sofa and the curved edges of the screen ‘wrap’ the picture around you, similar to a movie at an IMAX theatre.

I’ve seen quite a few curved TVs now and I have to say that, while they do look nice, the difference in viewing experience appears subtle. Sometimes, you hardly even notice that the TV is even curved.

Can you wall mount a curved TV?

It’s doubtful that curved screens will come to small TVs, instead just sticking to the larger models. And at such a large size there’s a good chance you’ll want to mount the set on your wall at some point – on paper, that doesn’t seem straightforward with a curve.

Wall mounts specially designed for curved TVs are on the way, but don’t expect such a solution to look as slick as a mounted flatscreen. We’ve seen wall-mounted curved TVs and they do stick out further, particularly with those curved edges. There’s the option of recessing a curved TV into your wall, but that would be much more disruptive and probably not possible for most people.

To curve or not to curve

I’m 50/50 on the benefits of curved TVs, and we’ll want to get this new breed of sets into our lab for testing before we can make a proper judgement.

But what do you think? Can you see the value of a curved television, or is this just another flashy gimmick from the manufacturers aimed at loosening up our wallets?

I believe the principle reason wide cinema screens are curved is so that all parts are equidistant from the projector, thus avoiding distortion. “An immersive experience” is probably marketing speak to make a virtue out of this necessity. No such optical correction is needed with a TV.They are, however, a good way of keeping up with the Jonses (or going one step ahead) and reviving the TV market for the manufacturers in place of the failure of 3D. Extracting money from your pocket.

I don’t think cinema screens are curved to avoid distortion. The projected image is taken from an object (i.e. a film or LCD screen) which is itself flat. Therefore, the ratio of the distance from the centre of the film to the lens over the distance from the edge of the film to the lens equals the ratio from the lens to a flat cinema screen and therefore all points on a flat cinema screen would be in focus. When using a curved cinema screen, some extra optics would be needed to provide focus at both the centre and edges of the screen. Therefore, I think the cinema screen really is curved for a better viewing experience. However, that’s different from a TV screen at home. The cinema screen is much wider compared to the distance of the viewer so it subtends a larger angle at the eye, and making it flat means the edges don’t look too far away. On a 42-inch TV at home, you won’t notice the difference.

I’ve still got a 12 year old Sharp 32inch flat screen never had any trouble with it,have been looking to update but can’t find anything with as good sound unless I buy sound bars at extra cost,I think good sound is as important as the picture especially for music dads.

So what’s new about curved TV’s? Not so long ago all TV’s had a curved screen… First there were round ones, then there were pin-cushion shaped ones, then there were Trinitron’s that were curved in one dimension only and then we had square ones… The good old FST (became known as the Flatter Softer Tube – due to the poor focus!)

The real appeal of a modern flat screen is that you can wall mount it to save space and have a massive screen all at the same time, but a convex curved screen is only of any use if you live at Eltham Palace and want to wall mount it on a curved wall!

Pointless gimmick, Samsung should spend time getting there existing TV’s working properly, my dreadful 65ES8000 series set is a discrace in the picture (uneven backlight) and (tinny) sound department and has multiple software bugs to boot and the more serious of these problems developed after only a few months of ownership.

Yes, the whole point is that these would be concave, not convex. Then the edges wouldn’t look too far away. However, the difference would be barely noticeable (unless you have a 100-inch TV in a small room).

I’ve seen them at John Lewis and they look impressive. My set is in a corner so it might make sense, but the price will have to come down before I’d consider one. I bought my first flat screen tv when they first came out and paid a small fortune – I’m older and wiser now.

Yes, I believe that would be a major disadvantage with curved TVs. It seems to me that the manufacturers think TVs are placed in the middle of a wall and viewed by people who sit directly in front of it in the middle of the opposing wall. That’s not realistic. Some people will sit on a sofa that might be placed at an angle to the TV while others sit on armchairs at quite large angles to the TV. In these realistic situations, a curved TV would be worse than a flat TV, as the near edge would be turned away from you and would be viewed at a steep angle.

‘Immersive experience”? – This is down to the mind, not the environment. All the worlds great paintings are flat!
I can look at a flat wall and not think to myself “hmmmm, this would be much better if it was curved”…

well i have seen electronic come and go every week there is new camera comes out and it is not only cameras i would have experience them for a long time before committing and then the price would be a big contributing factor.

Here’s an idea for manufacturers. The problem with curved TVs is that they leave a gap at the edges when you wall-mount them, and the problem with flat TVs is that there’s no room to put decent speakers inside. So let’s have curved TVs with flat backs. Then you can easily wall-mount them, and the internal space behind the edges of the screen can now be easily filled by larger speakers!

That’s an interesting thought, Clint. The problem with speakers at the edges of flat screen TVs is the lack of depth. With a curved screen it should be possible to have decent speakers at the sides. Having the speakers facing sideways would not give decent sound quality.

Today TV’s last so long that there is no need to change unless something itches us to change for the sake of changing,
as manufacturers strugge to sell us more TV’s they have to come up every year with something new,

We traditionally all had curved screen televisions when CRT televisions were the only option (a convex curve). It was there through CRT design necessity. Flat screen CRTs did appear towards the end of CRT technology – ways having been found to overcome this design difficulty. After the industry achieving its ultimate goal to produce a flat screen – carrying it through to plasma, LCD and LED screens, it is now trying to convince us that a curve is better after-all (but a concave curve). There might be theories to back up claims that curved is better, but people are not that sensitive enough to appreciate any theoretical advantage. On balance, I feel it is a gimmick.

Given that the largest dimension of the average living room is probably under four metres, does not the curvature on a widescreen TV enhance the viewing experience because it eliminates some of the distortion arising from having to sit quite close to the screen and reduces the amount of eye movement that is required to see action at the edges of the picture? I have no experience of the bigger televisions or concave screens other than what I have seen on display in shops, and we have never contemplated having one, but I can imagine it can make for a more inclusive family occasion given that watching films has overtaken watching TV programmes for collective family entertainment.

Presumably the centre of curvature best suits the person sitting in the middle of the settee. Those who are relegated to the sides will maybe suffer a poorer visual experience. But they are a way of upgrading our equipment, whilst downgrading our bank accounts. But then I recognise I can be a bit cynical. I am perfectly happy with our 10 year old plasma flat screen.

Yes the person in the centre of the viewing circle would have the best picture but perhaps those on the wings would have a better view of the far side and a slightly poorer view on the near side. I like the flat screens that we have and they stand on media cabinets that can swivel to present the most favourable viewing angle. I dislike TV’s that dominate a living room even when they are off. My first colour TV had tambour doors across the front and people thought it was a drinks cabinet.

TV screens are now so large they can be used as display windows and instead of dominating a room offer instead views of pleasant farmland. Mind you, we have those already, so I suppose we need some of traffic-filled streets…